James Zemartis
|tribes = |place = Sole Survivor (1/20) |challenges = 1 |votesagainst = 8 }} is the Sole Survivor from . The story of James Zemartis is perhaps the most compelling in the history of Survivor Northeastern. On day 1, Zemartis and Remi Ginsberg were the two castaways who were unpicked for a starting tribe. This was quite the emotional blow to Zemartis, as he had high hopes coming into the game as someone who grew up watching the show. Zemartis defeated Ginsberg in the one on one competition that followed, and elected to join the winning tribe, Lucky Lemons. In round 2, during Zemartis' first challenge as a member of a tribe, he impressed many on his tribe with his efforts. Despite going to tribal that round, Zemartis remained safe and was even able to establish a relationship with Corrine Cella. After voting out Owen Loveluck unanimously, the Lemons headed back to tribal the following round, where Zemartis was again spared in favor of Collin Walter. At this point in the game, the fact that Zemartis was unpicked has long passed the thoughts of players in the game; he was clearly a member of the Lucky Lemons tribe, and in fact held a bit of influence in deciding who would be voted out. The following round, Zemartis was swapped onto Kuposo with three of his original Lemons castaways, Tess Mahon Kuzin, Hallie Marcellus, and CJ Andrews. Zemartis helped lead Kuposo to two tribal immunity victories. In round 6, Zemartis was swapped onto Peng along with Kuzin, Andrews, Joe Lynch, Jessie Spradling, Zach Bresnick, and Kathy Tangarife. Since Kuzin had won individual immunity that round, the target of the other side (Lynch, Spradling, and Bresnick) was Zemartis. This was due mainly in part because Conor Clark and Meredith Dillard of the other tribe believed that Zemartis and Kuzin were the heads of the Lemons. Despite being targeted, Zemartis and the other two original Lemons managed to convince swing-vote Tangarife into voting Bresnick out that round, effectively saving James from elimination. The following round, Zemartis led an effort within his tribe to throw the immunity challenge so that Lynch or Spradling could be voted out next. Not only did he throw the challenge, but he actively removed vital challenge materials from the challenge to prevent Lynch and Spradling from figuring it out themselves. Because the other tribe was also throwing the challenge, Peng ended up winning immunity that round, and the tribes merged the following round. At merge, Zemartis found himself on the wrong side for the first time during his tenure after Kuzin was voted out 7-4. It was clear that he, Andrews, and Tangarife were on the bottom of the tribe. Zemartis escaped being voted out the following round, when Tangarife was booted with five votes. In round 10, Zemartis won individual immunity at the most opportune time in the "Touchy Subjects" challenge. That round, the first member of the seven-person mega-alliance, Corrine Cella, was voted out amid news that she and Meredith Dillard were long time friends. The next round, Zemartis tried to seize this opportunity of fracture within the majority alliance, and led a charge to vote out challenge threat Joe Lynch. Zemartis individually talked with each castaway in the game, and going into tribal council, believed his plan would prove beneficial. The alliance of Conor, Joe, Summer, and Jessie, however, were not listening to Zemartis whatsoever and were planning on voting him out that round. Zemartis did get lucky that round, as Dillard, Fish, and Andrews planned a surprise vote in which they nullified Spradling's vote to eliminate Clark. Following that tribal council, Zemartis immediately catapulted from the bottom to the top of his tribe, despite failing to convince anyone to vote with him. The next round, both sides of the game were hoping that Zemartis would vote with them. In the end, Zemartis end up siding with the side of Summer, Joe, and Jessie for a variety of reasons, one being his long standing relationship with Holland. That round, Andrews was voted out, and the following round, Fish was voted out. After a riveting final five tribal council in which Meredith saved herself by playing a hidden immunity idol (and voting out Jessie), James found himself, along with Holland, in a good position in the game. It was clear that Joe was a threat, and Meredith remained in the game as the biggest threat. At the final four immunity challenge, Zemartis did everything in his power to ensure that Meredith did not win, and he was successful, as Summer won immunity and Meredith was voted out that round. At final three, James lost his footing during the challenge, which ultimately cost him individual immunity and a guaranteed spot in the final two. Fortunately for Zemartis, Holland won that round, and opted to select him over Lynch to go to final tribal council. At final tribal council, Zemartis did a solid job at summarizing his game from start to finish, and talked about how his game was filled with highs and lows. The jury, which was comprised of many of James' former allies, believed that he deserved the title of Sole Survivor over fellow finalist Summer because of the tumult he had fought through to get to where he was. This resulted in James being crowned the first Sole Survivor in Survivor Northeastern history to unanimously beat his opponent(s). Survivor Northeastern: Husky Highlands Voting History Trivia *Of the five Survivor Northeastern winner, James voted with the majority the least (50%). The next lowest percentage is Ryan Mallaby, who voted with the majority 67% of the time.